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Saturday marked the final October weekend in the Big Ten football schedule, and while many eyes in the state of Michigan were fixed on Ann Arbor and Evanston, the proverbial cream rose to the top in Columbus.

Ohio State's comeback win over Penn State was the biggest tilt so far in the conference, putting the Buckeyes in the driver's seat for the Big Ten title game. They'll likely face Wisconsin, which is two games clear of Northwestern and Nebraska in the Big Ten West.

The road to Indianapolis is not completely clear for Ohio State, though, with a trip to Iowa, a home game against Michigan State and a visit to Michigan still to come. But the Buckeyes have won six in a row and have a good chance to be in the top four of the first College Football Playoff standings when they're unveiled Tuesday.

So, now that we've tipped our hand as to who's No. 1 in this week's rankings, here they are in full:

14. Illinois Fighting Illini (2-6, last week: 14): Look, there's no way to sugarcoat this: Illinois is not good. Lovie Smith's rebuilding project continues as the Illini were never really in the game in the 24-10 loss to Wisconsin.

13. Indiana Hoosiers (3-5, last week: 9): Remember when they were hanging with Ohio State in the season opener? Well, after losses to U-M and MSU, Indiana coughed up a lead late at Maryland to lose, 42-39, and is winless in the conference.

12. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-5, last week: 13): Sure, they weren't terribly impressive against Michigan. Still, they are last in total offense in the Big Ten and third to last in total defense.

11. Purdue Boilermakers (3-5, last week: 11): No such Boilering up for Purdue, who've lost their last three conference game, including the last two against Rutgers and now Nebraska. But still have an outside chance at bowl eligibility with Illinois, Northwestern, Iowa and Indiana the rest of the way.

10. Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-4, last week: 8): A decent comeback attempt at Iowa on Saturday, but eventually came up short, 17-10. Their lone Big Ten win has been against Illinois, so a bit of a deduction there. This week, the visit Ann Arbor for the Little Brown Jug battle.

9. Maryland Terrapins (4-4, last week: 10): The bump up might be more for the cool looking uniforms on Saturday as oppose to the comeback win over Indiana. Still, 42 points is impressive. But the Terps have the worst scoring defense in the conference, allowing 37 points per game.

8. Nebraska Cornhuskers (4-4, last week: 12): Truth be told, there's not a lot of differentiation between, say Purdue and Nebraska. And wouldn't you know it, Nebraska edges Purdue by one point on Saturday, hence, the bump up. But a late, game-winning drive will usually score you brownie points.

7. Iowa Hawkeyes (5-3, last week: 7): Not a spectacular effort, but just enough to hold of Minnesota and inch closer to a bowl game. Rough stretch ahead: home for Ohio State and at Wisconsin.

4c. Northwestern Wildcats (5-3, last week: 6): Yes, more of the same from last week. But what can we say? Here's the logic: we still give the nod to MSU over Michigan, but Northwestern topped the Spartans in triple overtime. Pardon our fence-straddling, but we're going with a tie.

4b. Michigan Wolverines (6-2, last week: 5): While Jim Harbaugh tries to play things off, we all saw what happened Saturday against Rutgers. Brandon Peters should be starting at quarterback until further notice. But can U-M run the ball as well as they did Saturday against Minnesota?

4a. Michigan State Spartans (6-2, last week: 4): Tough to bump you down when you go into triple overtime, so we'll keep MSU here for now. But expect a boost if they find a way to knock off the Nittany Lions (noon, Fox).

3. Penn State Nittany Lions (7-1, last week: 1): Undefeated no more after losing the lead and then the game at Ohio State. They're No. 2 in scoring offense and scoring defense in the conference.

2. Wisconsin Badgers (8-0, last week: 2): The quietest undefeated team in the country and the lone perfect team in the Big Ten. The resume doesn't get much more difficult until maybe Michigan (Nov. 18) and the presumed Big Ten title game.

1. Ohio State Buckeyes (7-1, last week: 3): When you beat the No. 2 team in the country, you're going up in the power rankings. But they weren't as dominating as they've been, and they have a few land mines left on the schedule, starting Saturday at Iowa.